Rappan Athuk #4 - The Mausoleum
This week’s session started off a little rocky, but proved to be pretty productive as the group finally made it inside the dungeon of graves known as Rappan Athuk.
We are once again rejoined by Justin. His character is a min/maxed dwarf fighter/barbarian named Slam, and is the first evil PC in the group.
Joy’s replacement PC is just a modified character from the ill-fated Cormyr campaign we had. Her name is still Saeri and she’s an elf fighter/ranger.
This week we had a full table of six of us, which I hoped would make the combats a little more even.
Now get this; I’m getting flack because they don’t have enough healing. As of this session they had 5 PC’s each with 2 classes. Of those 10 classes, they have 2 favored souls. They also have around 50% more hit points because of the changes I’ve made to the game. As a result the group feels that I should make healing and such a bit more available.
I can see where they’re coming from. I threw a fight at them that was a hair over their abilities, in spite of them handling a similar (and equal EL) fight previously with a much better outcome.
What really messed up that fight were the two big critical hits. First Sasha’s crit against the fiendish dire wolf gave them a little hope of survival. Which was then followed by the crit the crippled Sasha and the series of decisions afterwards which ended in them running, several rounds after they probably should have.
It’s all hindsight, but I looked at the whole thing and came to two conclusions.
#1 – Someone has to step up as full time healer. With 5 PC’s they have 3 full time melee freaks and 2 other PC’s who are part time healers at best.
#2 – Critical hits hurt the party more than they help. I’ve heard this for years, but always figured that only those special “crit charts” did that.
For #1 the group thought I should rethink some of my decisions and allow the party to hire a cleric, take the Leadership feat to get a cleric cohort, or allow an alternate version of the cleric as a class option.
My response was that they have a lot more hit points than they’re used to, and it’s filled them with a kind of false sense of security. They have more hit points, but not more healing or armor class. So they take damage just as often as before, and regain it from healing just as slowly, but they can stand up a little longer.
I figure it’s only a matter of time before they get used to the change and someone in the groups bites the bullet and becomes the group’s healer. Once again no one wants to be the healer, and this time I won’t help them by creating an NPC healer.
I’d like to see what they’re doing exactly for 4E, and see if it’s easily adaptable to what we have now. Maybe we can revisit that in a month or two.
For #2 we already have something usable from 4E that can be adapted with just an afterthought of work. Throw out critical hit confirmation rolls and crits do max damage rather than a multiplier of damage. It’s simple enough to convert most weapons over. A longsword does a base of 8 damage on a roll of 19-20. A greatsword does a base of 12 on the same rolls. For those weapons that do x3 damage on a crit, you just increase their threat range by 1.
Yeah the balance of some weapons cost is a little off now, but in the grand scheme I don’t see that as a big problem. Balancing the prices of weapons is pretty low on the priority list I think.
Of course the party will never be able to deal out 100+ points of damage in a single melee attack, but they won’t have to face it either.
Now on to the game…
Last we stopped with the Mouse and Saver fleeing back to town after the above-mentioned combat.
Rather than wait until the group got to town to introduce new PC’s, I decided that moment was a good time to do it.
Mouse and Saver came across an unfortunately familiar sight; a dozen skeletons in formation had stopped a group of people along the trail. As usual the lead skeleton was holding out his hand to the party they were facing, as if waiting for the party to hand something over.
Mouse and Saver immediately hid as best they could and waited to see what happened.
Facing the skeletons were three adventurers, Vars (who Saver knows), Slam, and Saeri.
Slam brought 5gp to the lead skeleton, and dropped it on the ground in front of it. When the skeleton “looked” down, Slam punched it in the skull.
Unlike last time, where the party had a rough time taking on the skeletons, this fight was minor thanks to the brute force that Slam brought to the table.
After introductions, the two groups joined up and headed back to their new base of operations – the ruined tower and surprisingly had a peace-filled night of sleep.
In spite of having lost it, their map wasn’t exactly very complicated and the party was able to find the trail leading to the graveyard.
The only thing they encountered on this nice morning trek to their doom was a stone obelisk very similar to the one they found before (session #2 I believe). They searched it thoroughly and concluded that it was solid stone, but hadn’t always been here – mainly because they had crossed the trail at this point two days ago but hadn’t seen it.
They made note of the curiosity and moved on after Mouse marked it with a piece of chalk.
Less than an hour later they were standing atop the hill looking back down into the cross-shaped, sunken graveyard left with the same decisions as last time – check out rat holes again, dig up coffins, search the dwarf statue, investigate the mausoleums without gargoyles, investigate the mausoleums with gargoyles, take another look at Saver’s tombstone, or go down the well.
Mouse started off with spelunking the rat holes again, coming to the same results as last time (nothing good and lots of squeaks).
The dwarven hero statue was the next target of their attentions.
On the base of the statue, written in dwarven was “Blessed is he who spares these stones, and cursed be the man who moves my bones.”
In spite of their rampant (probably justified) paranoia, they searched the statue and found a stone drawer holding an iron key which Vars pocketed.
Shortly after, they spotted a troupe of ghouls pulling themselves out of the ground with hungry eyes for the party.
Given how good the spot checks were I gave the party 5 rounds to prepare, but the amount of time they spent discussing a plan forced me to knock it down to 4.
When it got down to it they made the best of those rounds and weakened the ghouls with ranged weapons to make them easy to mop up when melee was required.
After that they did a search of the ground the ghouls pulled themselves out of, and found nothing.
Next on their agenda were the green stone mausoleums without any gargoyles resting on them.
They searched around them, and even climbed on top, before picking the lock and going inside (the iron key didn’t work).
Outside they found nothing of interest, and inside they found empty and knocked over sarcophagi.
All they had left to search was the mausoleum with the gargoyles and the well – and they were avoiding the well like the plague.
Their level of paranoia of the gargoyles was pretty funny. When they finally grew a pair and approached the last mausoleum the gargoyles didn’t budge.
They now figure the gargoyles are waiting for them to run from another fight before they animate and attack. Thanks for the idea.
The door to the place was locked like the other mausoleums, but this time the iron key worked (after some failed picking attempts).
The large stone doors opened inwards of their own accord and the key disappeared out of the lock.
Once the party had safely entered the 40’ x 60’ mausoleum, the doors closed.
Other than the litter of broken weapons and spent torches, only a single sarcophagus resides in the mausoleum. Resting on it is a pair of iron candelabras with black candles lit by enchanted flames.
They give a cursory examination of the room, and other than the obviously evil and vile acts shown on the walls, nothing is found. That ends up being fairly unfortunate for the party, because there is a secret door, and it is vital to their survival.
The party focuses on the sarcophagus, and after a lid-lifting competition between Saeri and Slam, Slam wins and the lid is now off the sarcophagus.
Surprise Round:
A humanoid skeleton made of black bone and wielding dual short swords jumps up from his prone position inside the sarcophagus, laughing evilly.
Saver, being paranoid, gets an action for this round. He spends it casting Bless.
Round 1:
Mouse hits the skeleton with his morning star (I think) but no damage penetrates the thing damage reduction.
Saver casts Magic Missile doing some damage.
Saeri pulls her longsword and hits it, but does no damage.
Slam pulls his greatsword and misses.
The skeleton stops laughing long enough to let out a piercing shriek that sends Mouse, Slam, and Vars running to the corners of the room in a panic (failed a DC15 Will save).
Unseen by the party, the ceiling begins to lower, or the floor begins to rise.
To make things worse the only available exit out of the room is now just a secret door on the floor which can only be opened by pulling a special (and just as hidden) handle-mechanism on the wall. That handle will be out of sight within 1 minute’s time.
Round 2:
Saver casts another Magic Missile.
Saeri pulls her short sword to dual-wield against the thing, but for the entire remainder of the combat she does zero damage to it.
The black skeleton hits Saeri with each of his short swords, but does minimum damage (1) with each one, and then drains a point of strength from her for each hit (4 consecutive 1’s on d6’s). The DM’s rolls continue to miss her for the remainder of combat.
The room continues to vertically shrink and the party remains unaware.
Rounds 3-6:
Saver casts Magic Missile or Disrupt Undead.
Saeri and the skeleton dance around.
Round 7:
Saver uses his Wand of Magic Missiles (level 5 caster, 4 charges now left) killing the skeleton.
As the fight ends and the fear effect wears off, everyone has a chance to spot their new problem, and luckily they do.
What was even luckier for them, their dwarf (Slam) notices the secret stone door and the mechanism.
Round 8:
Slam pulls on the handle but it doesn’t budge (DC22 strength check)
Mouse quickly searches the coffin, finding nothing.
Round 9:
Slam tries again on the handle once again, and with success, opening the secret door on the floor.
They discuss using this opportunity to do a more thorough search of the place, since it will take a while for the ceiling to touch the sarcophagus and stop.
But then they notice a cutout in the ceiling, perfect in size and location for the sarcophagus.
Over the next few seconds the party flees down the stairs beneath the door and into the worst smelling place they’ve ever been in.
(Saver and Mouse are now level 4, the rest are 3.)
This entire new region smells like a well-used latrine on a hot summer day, after a chili cook-off. While in this entire region everyone has to make a DC10 Fortitude save every half hour or be nauseated until they leave.
This new region is part natural caves and part carved out with very little debris but not very clean.
Their path takes them to a door that is untrapped and unlocked. After that they have multiple paths to choose from, but none of them very interesting. One path dead ends into a cave in and another natural passage closes up.
Their first big score of money was a whopping 22cp lying on the floor under a dead rat infested with green slime (which barely missed dropping onto Saeri).
So far they aren’t very happy with what they’ve found, so they take a quick look back at the passage to the mausoleum, hoping to leave and rest up. They find that the ceiling and floor have met, and probably won’t be fully separate for another two days. And since the doors of the mausoleum open inward, they are stuck here for the duration unless they find a new way out.
So back to the dungeon they go, and instead of monsters they encounter small trap after small trap.
They had a fake stair that almost poisoned and trapped Mouse’s leg. Then there was a deck of cards with contact poison on it. And finally a 20’ pit.
Aaron, planning for the future, has Mouse mark each trap with his chalk.
(Joy left early. Saeri poofs out.)
After finding a sarcophagus with the silver inlays pried out, the party realizes that the upper dungeon levels are probably going to be stripped clean by other adventurers. To find some treasure they have to lucky, good, or both.
As they travel east, they come to a north/south T-intersection. The party chooses to head south.
This time Mouse’s stone cunning notices a secret door.
Inside the room was a very lonely ghast. He hadn’t seen adventurers in so he praised them on their cleverness and asked them to come in.
Of course all the party heard was a voice, so they cautiously entered the room until the ghast claws at Mouse, starting the combat.
Round 1:
Mouse casts Bless.
Saver, who is down to cantrip spells and his wand only, casts Disrupt Undead.
The ghast bites at Saver, who makes his saves vs. disease and paralysis.
Vars attacks and misses
Slam moves into the room, but can’t attack yet as he was too far back.
Round 2:
Mouse attacks and misses.
Saver goes on full defense.
The ghast bites Saver, who then fails the paralysis save.
The ghast then turns around and claws at Slam, who is also then paralyzed.
Vars swings again and misses.
Round 3:
Mouse casts Magic Weapon on Vars main bastard sword.
The ghast bites at Vars, paralyzing him as well.
Round 4:
Mouse casts Cure Light Wounds as an attack spell. He holds the charge and runs to the other side of the room forcing the ghast to come after him.
The ghast charges Mouse, but misses.
Round 5:
Mouse releases the held spell on the ghast, hurting it but not enough to matter.
The ghast misses Mouse with all three attacks.
Round 6:
Mouse runs to the other side of the room.
He has the feat Mobility, so his AC increases by 4. Unfortunately a nat 20 still hits, but at lease he makes his saves.
Saver shrugs off the paralysis and uses his Wand of Magic Missile on the ghast.
The ghast responds with another charge attack, resulting in Saver being paralyzed again.
Vars shrugs off the paralysis and with the ghast conveniently right their gets to attack with both of his bastard swords. The ghast is cut down.
They search the room, heal up as best they can and all that.
They find a chest with 200cp, 600gp (later found out to be lead), and a secret compartment with 3 magic scrolls. The party is out of read magic spells so they can’t figure out what is written on them.
The party is very low on spells, hit points, and so on and resting here will be hard thanks to the smell.
What will they do?
We are once again rejoined by Justin. His character is a min/maxed dwarf fighter/barbarian named Slam, and is the first evil PC in the group.
Joy’s replacement PC is just a modified character from the ill-fated Cormyr campaign we had. Her name is still Saeri and she’s an elf fighter/ranger.
This week we had a full table of six of us, which I hoped would make the combats a little more even.
Now get this; I’m getting flack because they don’t have enough healing. As of this session they had 5 PC’s each with 2 classes. Of those 10 classes, they have 2 favored souls. They also have around 50% more hit points because of the changes I’ve made to the game. As a result the group feels that I should make healing and such a bit more available.
I can see where they’re coming from. I threw a fight at them that was a hair over their abilities, in spite of them handling a similar (and equal EL) fight previously with a much better outcome.
What really messed up that fight were the two big critical hits. First Sasha’s crit against the fiendish dire wolf gave them a little hope of survival. Which was then followed by the crit the crippled Sasha and the series of decisions afterwards which ended in them running, several rounds after they probably should have.
It’s all hindsight, but I looked at the whole thing and came to two conclusions.
#1 – Someone has to step up as full time healer. With 5 PC’s they have 3 full time melee freaks and 2 other PC’s who are part time healers at best.
#2 – Critical hits hurt the party more than they help. I’ve heard this for years, but always figured that only those special “crit charts” did that.
For #1 the group thought I should rethink some of my decisions and allow the party to hire a cleric, take the Leadership feat to get a cleric cohort, or allow an alternate version of the cleric as a class option.
My response was that they have a lot more hit points than they’re used to, and it’s filled them with a kind of false sense of security. They have more hit points, but not more healing or armor class. So they take damage just as often as before, and regain it from healing just as slowly, but they can stand up a little longer.
I figure it’s only a matter of time before they get used to the change and someone in the groups bites the bullet and becomes the group’s healer. Once again no one wants to be the healer, and this time I won’t help them by creating an NPC healer.
I’d like to see what they’re doing exactly for 4E, and see if it’s easily adaptable to what we have now. Maybe we can revisit that in a month or two.
For #2 we already have something usable from 4E that can be adapted with just an afterthought of work. Throw out critical hit confirmation rolls and crits do max damage rather than a multiplier of damage. It’s simple enough to convert most weapons over. A longsword does a base of 8 damage on a roll of 19-20. A greatsword does a base of 12 on the same rolls. For those weapons that do x3 damage on a crit, you just increase their threat range by 1.
Yeah the balance of some weapons cost is a little off now, but in the grand scheme I don’t see that as a big problem. Balancing the prices of weapons is pretty low on the priority list I think.
Of course the party will never be able to deal out 100+ points of damage in a single melee attack, but they won’t have to face it either.
Now on to the game…
Last we stopped with the Mouse and Saver fleeing back to town after the above-mentioned combat.
Rather than wait until the group got to town to introduce new PC’s, I decided that moment was a good time to do it.
Mouse and Saver came across an unfortunately familiar sight; a dozen skeletons in formation had stopped a group of people along the trail. As usual the lead skeleton was holding out his hand to the party they were facing, as if waiting for the party to hand something over.
Mouse and Saver immediately hid as best they could and waited to see what happened.
Facing the skeletons were three adventurers, Vars (who Saver knows), Slam, and Saeri.
Slam brought 5gp to the lead skeleton, and dropped it on the ground in front of it. When the skeleton “looked” down, Slam punched it in the skull.
Unlike last time, where the party had a rough time taking on the skeletons, this fight was minor thanks to the brute force that Slam brought to the table.
After introductions, the two groups joined up and headed back to their new base of operations – the ruined tower and surprisingly had a peace-filled night of sleep.
In spite of having lost it, their map wasn’t exactly very complicated and the party was able to find the trail leading to the graveyard.
The only thing they encountered on this nice morning trek to their doom was a stone obelisk very similar to the one they found before (session #2 I believe). They searched it thoroughly and concluded that it was solid stone, but hadn’t always been here – mainly because they had crossed the trail at this point two days ago but hadn’t seen it.
They made note of the curiosity and moved on after Mouse marked it with a piece of chalk.
Less than an hour later they were standing atop the hill looking back down into the cross-shaped, sunken graveyard left with the same decisions as last time – check out rat holes again, dig up coffins, search the dwarf statue, investigate the mausoleums without gargoyles, investigate the mausoleums with gargoyles, take another look at Saver’s tombstone, or go down the well.
Mouse started off with spelunking the rat holes again, coming to the same results as last time (nothing good and lots of squeaks).
The dwarven hero statue was the next target of their attentions.
On the base of the statue, written in dwarven was “Blessed is he who spares these stones, and cursed be the man who moves my bones.”
In spite of their rampant (probably justified) paranoia, they searched the statue and found a stone drawer holding an iron key which Vars pocketed.
Shortly after, they spotted a troupe of ghouls pulling themselves out of the ground with hungry eyes for the party.
Given how good the spot checks were I gave the party 5 rounds to prepare, but the amount of time they spent discussing a plan forced me to knock it down to 4.
When it got down to it they made the best of those rounds and weakened the ghouls with ranged weapons to make them easy to mop up when melee was required.
After that they did a search of the ground the ghouls pulled themselves out of, and found nothing.
Next on their agenda were the green stone mausoleums without any gargoyles resting on them.
They searched around them, and even climbed on top, before picking the lock and going inside (the iron key didn’t work).
Outside they found nothing of interest, and inside they found empty and knocked over sarcophagi.
All they had left to search was the mausoleum with the gargoyles and the well – and they were avoiding the well like the plague.
Their level of paranoia of the gargoyles was pretty funny. When they finally grew a pair and approached the last mausoleum the gargoyles didn’t budge.
They now figure the gargoyles are waiting for them to run from another fight before they animate and attack. Thanks for the idea.
The door to the place was locked like the other mausoleums, but this time the iron key worked (after some failed picking attempts).
The large stone doors opened inwards of their own accord and the key disappeared out of the lock.
Once the party had safely entered the 40’ x 60’ mausoleum, the doors closed.
Other than the litter of broken weapons and spent torches, only a single sarcophagus resides in the mausoleum. Resting on it is a pair of iron candelabras with black candles lit by enchanted flames.
They give a cursory examination of the room, and other than the obviously evil and vile acts shown on the walls, nothing is found. That ends up being fairly unfortunate for the party, because there is a secret door, and it is vital to their survival.
The party focuses on the sarcophagus, and after a lid-lifting competition between Saeri and Slam, Slam wins and the lid is now off the sarcophagus.
Surprise Round:
A humanoid skeleton made of black bone and wielding dual short swords jumps up from his prone position inside the sarcophagus, laughing evilly.
Saver, being paranoid, gets an action for this round. He spends it casting Bless.
Round 1:
Mouse hits the skeleton with his morning star (I think) but no damage penetrates the thing damage reduction.
Saver casts Magic Missile doing some damage.
Saeri pulls her longsword and hits it, but does no damage.
Slam pulls his greatsword and misses.
The skeleton stops laughing long enough to let out a piercing shriek that sends Mouse, Slam, and Vars running to the corners of the room in a panic (failed a DC15 Will save).
Unseen by the party, the ceiling begins to lower, or the floor begins to rise.
To make things worse the only available exit out of the room is now just a secret door on the floor which can only be opened by pulling a special (and just as hidden) handle-mechanism on the wall. That handle will be out of sight within 1 minute’s time.
Round 2:
Saver casts another Magic Missile.
Saeri pulls her short sword to dual-wield against the thing, but for the entire remainder of the combat she does zero damage to it.
The black skeleton hits Saeri with each of his short swords, but does minimum damage (1) with each one, and then drains a point of strength from her for each hit (4 consecutive 1’s on d6’s). The DM’s rolls continue to miss her for the remainder of combat.
The room continues to vertically shrink and the party remains unaware.
Rounds 3-6:
Saver casts Magic Missile or Disrupt Undead.
Saeri and the skeleton dance around.
Round 7:
Saver uses his Wand of Magic Missiles (level 5 caster, 4 charges now left) killing the skeleton.
As the fight ends and the fear effect wears off, everyone has a chance to spot their new problem, and luckily they do.
What was even luckier for them, their dwarf (Slam) notices the secret stone door and the mechanism.
Round 8:
Slam pulls on the handle but it doesn’t budge (DC22 strength check)
Mouse quickly searches the coffin, finding nothing.
Round 9:
Slam tries again on the handle once again, and with success, opening the secret door on the floor.
They discuss using this opportunity to do a more thorough search of the place, since it will take a while for the ceiling to touch the sarcophagus and stop.
But then they notice a cutout in the ceiling, perfect in size and location for the sarcophagus.
Over the next few seconds the party flees down the stairs beneath the door and into the worst smelling place they’ve ever been in.
(Saver and Mouse are now level 4, the rest are 3.)
This entire new region smells like a well-used latrine on a hot summer day, after a chili cook-off. While in this entire region everyone has to make a DC10 Fortitude save every half hour or be nauseated until they leave.
This new region is part natural caves and part carved out with very little debris but not very clean.
Their path takes them to a door that is untrapped and unlocked. After that they have multiple paths to choose from, but none of them very interesting. One path dead ends into a cave in and another natural passage closes up.
Their first big score of money was a whopping 22cp lying on the floor under a dead rat infested with green slime (which barely missed dropping onto Saeri).
So far they aren’t very happy with what they’ve found, so they take a quick look back at the passage to the mausoleum, hoping to leave and rest up. They find that the ceiling and floor have met, and probably won’t be fully separate for another two days. And since the doors of the mausoleum open inward, they are stuck here for the duration unless they find a new way out.
So back to the dungeon they go, and instead of monsters they encounter small trap after small trap.
They had a fake stair that almost poisoned and trapped Mouse’s leg. Then there was a deck of cards with contact poison on it. And finally a 20’ pit.
Aaron, planning for the future, has Mouse mark each trap with his chalk.
(Joy left early. Saeri poofs out.)
After finding a sarcophagus with the silver inlays pried out, the party realizes that the upper dungeon levels are probably going to be stripped clean by other adventurers. To find some treasure they have to lucky, good, or both.
As they travel east, they come to a north/south T-intersection. The party chooses to head south.
This time Mouse’s stone cunning notices a secret door.
Inside the room was a very lonely ghast. He hadn’t seen adventurers in so he praised them on their cleverness and asked them to come in.
Of course all the party heard was a voice, so they cautiously entered the room until the ghast claws at Mouse, starting the combat.
Round 1:
Mouse casts Bless.
Saver, who is down to cantrip spells and his wand only, casts Disrupt Undead.
The ghast bites at Saver, who makes his saves vs. disease and paralysis.
Vars attacks and misses
Slam moves into the room, but can’t attack yet as he was too far back.
Round 2:
Mouse attacks and misses.
Saver goes on full defense.
The ghast bites Saver, who then fails the paralysis save.
The ghast then turns around and claws at Slam, who is also then paralyzed.
Vars swings again and misses.
Round 3:
Mouse casts Magic Weapon on Vars main bastard sword.
The ghast bites at Vars, paralyzing him as well.
Round 4:
Mouse casts Cure Light Wounds as an attack spell. He holds the charge and runs to the other side of the room forcing the ghast to come after him.
The ghast charges Mouse, but misses.
Round 5:
Mouse releases the held spell on the ghast, hurting it but not enough to matter.
The ghast misses Mouse with all three attacks.
Round 6:
Mouse runs to the other side of the room.
He has the feat Mobility, so his AC increases by 4. Unfortunately a nat 20 still hits, but at lease he makes his saves.
Saver shrugs off the paralysis and uses his Wand of Magic Missile on the ghast.
The ghast responds with another charge attack, resulting in Saver being paralyzed again.
Vars shrugs off the paralysis and with the ghast conveniently right their gets to attack with both of his bastard swords. The ghast is cut down.
They search the room, heal up as best they can and all that.
They find a chest with 200cp, 600gp (later found out to be lead), and a secret compartment with 3 magic scrolls. The party is out of read magic spells so they can’t figure out what is written on them.
The party is very low on spells, hit points, and so on and resting here will be hard thanks to the smell.
What will they do?
posted by BlueBlackRed at 7:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home